Shame of a city

Dear Editor:All America City - really? When I read that Downey has been selected as an All America City, I smiled and felt a tinge of civic pride. Many have worked very hard to improve and develop our city, and my husband and I, who have lived here for over five decades, are grateful for that. However, my civic pride gave way to sadness when a certain business on Firestone Boulevard came to mind. Smack dab in the middle of a "beautiful downtown Downey", sharing a fence with our high school, is an abortion business, the dirtiest business a community can possibly have. If we truly want our city to be an example and that "light on a hill" kind of community, there are many citizens who believe this blight of a business needs to be gone. Some will argue that much good is done for women in clinics such as this, but I ask you, if a doctor treated one half of his patients satisfactorily, yet killed the other half, would his practice still be labeled "good"? Others will argue it is a legal business, leave it alone. The truth our city officials need to recognize is this: just because something is legal does not mean it is moral. Abortion takes the life of a human being, and a huge percentage of women are scarred for life from this form of infanticide. Women and couples come into Downey from surrounding communities to have abortions. Believe me, this experience is rarely linked to a happy memory of Downey. Most cities in America do not have an abortion business and they are better off for it. City officials, please ponder this, and the rest of Downey's God-fearing citizens please pray that the day will be hastened when this "clinic" is gone. Then, and only then, can we be really proud of our All America City. Patti Sharpe Downey

********** Published: July 11, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 13